Pages

Monday, November 17, 2014

Photographic therapy

Here’s a story how I came to
photography.

I’m an attorney by profession. I’ve always
preferred civil cases, but some of my clients were killers, robbers and other
criminals. Some of them were normal people, (though it could seem strange),
some are real scums.

In August 2013 I defended a young woman who
have had another lawyer before me and have been put into a prison (she was a
doctor and took a bribe). She had a one-year-old child with a serious illness
and she was so young, so defenseless… Yes, she committed the crime, but it was
too severe to put her into a prison for several years… When I presented my case
in the court of appeal, the audience was crying... She received freedom… and
then something changed in my life. My main feelings were feelings of
hopelessness and helplessness, feeling of being overwhelmed, I had lack of
energy… I was depressed. Or I became a victim of a job burnout. For me it was
just the same things.

So it was August last year. In September I
bought my first DSLR camera. And the photography has since become #1 for me.

I photographed the documents in criminal and
civil cases and took elementary photos during vacations. So I began to read a
lot of books on photography, began to listen lectures online.

Then I have read that it’s very useful to take
part in a photography community and uploaded my photos at several sites where I
found friends with the same passion – passion for photography. And I found that
many of them have serious problems in their lives. There were people who lost
their children, people who were entering a mid-life crisis, people who were
injured in serious traffic accidents, individuals with disabilities, cancer
survivors.

And all of them decide to get out of their
circumstances and to introduce something creative into life. And it is the art
of photography. It has become very therapeutic. It has given strength to think
about things which are not related to pain (physical or mental), it has given
dreams for the future, it has given a social interaction with other
photographers, it gives the inspiration and motivation to live. Photography has
become one of the most important aspects of their life.

Just don’t let the pain of any kind ruin your
life. If you had a crappy day at work, if you feel awful all you have to do is
to pick up your camera and start shooting to feel better. Seeing the world
through your camera will make life feel wonderful again.

Photography is not always about being
technically perfect; it’s more about emotions. If you feel something when
viewing a photo, it is wonderful, no matter how or with what equipment it was
taken. All you need is to do a better picture today then you were able to do
yesterday and never quit.

I have found that photography has been a
great therapy for me as for many other people. It helps to see the beauty that
is in world around us, to be grateful and to appreciate life.

Thank you for reading! I would
welcome any comments you would like to share.